Ascend Acoustics ELX or BMR Tower

[tw 2022]

I thought nobody likes subjective impressions in ASR

You'd be surprised about how many folks ( including myself) that are " graph geeks" want to see/ hear subjective thought from legit reviewers.. After a bit you can detect " audiophool bs" pretty fast....

 

[gilency]

Is anybody here doing room correction with the ELX?
When I see the data from Spinorama there is a noticeable improvement when adding a sub, but a negligible improvement with eq.

 

[kyuu]

The EQ on Spinorama is not about room correction. It's about correcting for the anechoic on-axis response of the speaker to get it closer to the "ideal" flat line. The Ascend Acoustics ELX tower (if I remember what we're talking about here correctly) has a rather good on-axis response, so it makes sense that there's not a huge improvement to be had from EQ. That's a separate question from room correction, though.

 

[gilency]

Ok Thank You.

 

[gilency]

I have the ELX towers at home paired with 2 Rythmik LV12M subwoofers one at front midway and the other one in the back midway also, with a Buckeye Ncx500 and a MiniDSP Flex balanced.
Spent some time with REW with both subwoofers then with Dirac Live. 20x20x8 room.
I am new to speakers and a real novice to room correction but have spent years with headphones and played piano my whole life.
This is my subjective review: very nice!
Very happy with my set up and this is really end game for me.
Have the MacBook Pro connected to Ethernet for Apple Music and a 65 inch Sony TV connected to the Mac via HDMI. I control everything with a wireless keyboard from my seat. Music videos look great too.
I should say the money to finance my endeavor came from selling all my Stax headphones and amplifiers. Good trade I think.

 

[alkilpatrick]

I have the Ascend ELX Towers that I run without a subwoofer and quite happy with them. I also use Dirac room correction. I wanted to purchase another pair of ELX Towers for our other home but I wanted a walnut veneer to match a new stereo cabinet I ordered. I touched base with Ascend but heard it wasn't doable. So I looked at the Philharmonic website and found some stock walnut veneer speakers. I initially thought about the HT towers since they were around the same size as the ELX but I wanted to run these for music only without a sub so I went with the Philharmonic BMR Towers. I'll probably be auditioning the BMR Towers next week after they arrive.

Cheers

 

[gilency]

I am quite happy so far with my latest DL with ELX and 2 SW
ELX crossed to 40 and SW up to 130
I used REW to eq to 300 then used that eq to correct with DL
Amazing sound, amazing soundstage. Sill tinkering though
I hear the dip at 90 when I sweep but not with music so far. I hate dips. They are hard yo fix.

 

[Gyosa1]

Is anybody here doing room correction with the ELX?
When I see the data from Spinorama there is a noticeable improvement when adding a sub, but a negligible improvement with eq.

I’m running my ELX Ribbon towers with a parasound A21 amp and EVERSOLO DMP A8 without any room correction or EQ , and no sub …. Very happy with the sound as is .

Primarily because I’m too lazy to learn how to use the room correction on the A8 .. rather listen than tinker ….


Bk

 

[gilency]

The ELX has great sound but subwoofers really improve it. A miniDSP with REW and Dirac makes things even better

 

[Mort]

Although if one is getting subs, the BMR Tower will be cheaper.

 

[traind]

I have the Ascend ELX Towers that I run without a subwoofer and quite happy with them. I also use Dirac room correction. I wanted to purchase another pair of ELX Towers for our other home but I wanted a walnut veneer to match a new stereo cabinet I ordered. I touched base with Ascend but heard it wasn't doable. So I looked at the Philharmonic website and found some stock walnut veneer speakers. I initially thought about the HT towers since they were around the same size as the ELX but I wanted to run these for music only without a sub so I went with the Philharmonic BMR Towers. I'll probably be auditioning the BMR Towers next week after they arrive.

Cheers

How do you like them?

 

[alkilpatrick]

How do you like them?

Actually I’m quite happy with them. They are somewhat different than the ELX but overall enjoying the contrast.

 

[traind]

Actually I’m quite happy with them. They are somewhat different than the ELX but overall enjoying the contrast.

Can you describe the differences? I know it can be a challenge to articulate speaker differences at times.

 

[eycatcher]

I don't have any experience with the Phil's but I was interested in the song towers originally. I decided on bookshelves and had the Sierra 2's v1's for a little bit. I was impressed and and moved up. I have the Raal Towers for over ten years. I had some different subs too. Running a rythmik now. I upgraded the towers to the ELX a while back. and I'm very happy. I've used a lot of different correction systems except for Dirac. I'm currently using anthem room correction.

 

[alkilpatrick]

Can you describe the differences? I know it can be a challenge to articulate speaker differences at times.

The BMR towers seem to dig down deeper on the low end and they have a large soundstage. I think the ELX towers have a more refined blended sound and they are my favorite of the two. They are both very good speakers and I am happy with both. I have a NAD C658 so I use the full version of Dirac room correction and to me it helps.

 

[PristineSound]

I was debating between the ELX or the HT Tower, but I ended up with the ELX with ribbon tweeter. It just came in today, there was a 6 month back order for the piano black, I ordered it back in November. I got it right before the tariffs kicked in. Probably my last major purchase until there is a resolution to this trade war.

I chose the ELX because based on all the info, it just seems that there was more science that went into the ELX and there is more measured data on the ELX than the HT Tower. For example, the cabinet is made of bamboo, Dave used a vibrometer to measured resonance of a bamboo cabinet vs MDF, his data shows that bamboo is significantly stiffer. He had to find a supplier who was willing to make speaker cabinets with bamboo, because it's harder so more difficult to work with and the wears out the CNC bit faster. And the most obvious, Dave has a NFS, so he gets a high resolution scan at will during R&D. I owned a LX before this ELX, so I kind of know what I will be getting ahead of time.


Here's a pic, I have bass traps on th corner, the ELX is mounted on Isoacoustic GAIA.

 

[Mort]

I'm a Philharmonic Audio fan but I can't fault any of that reasoning. (edit: as long as you got the ribbons ) It's incredible that we have both to choose from as consumers. They may be in for some tough times.

 

[PristineSound]

I'm a Philharmonic Audio fan but I can't fault any of that reasoning. It's incredible that we have both to choose from as consumers. They may be in for some tough times.

Indeed, we are fortunate to have Dennis and Dave making top performing speakers, with excellent engineering and selling direct to customers.

Also indeed to the though times ahead, for businesses and consumers alike. I was told that Ascend will be raising prices.

 

[Gyosa1]

Enjoy !

I’ve had a pair of the ELX Ribbons for about a year …. Fantastic speakers !

Bk

 

[hvbias]

I was debating between the ELX or the HT Tower, but I ended up with the ELX with ribbon tweeter. It just came in today, there was a 6 month back order for the piano black, I ordered it back in November. I got it right before the tariffs kicked in. Probably my last major purchase until there is a resolution to this trade war.

I chose the ELX because based on all the info, it just seems that there was more science that went into the ELX and there is more measured data on the ELX than the HT Tower. For example, the cabinet is made of bamboo, Dave used a vibrometer to measured resonance of a bamboo cabinet vs MDF, his data shows that bamboo is significantly stiffer. He had to find a supplier who was willing to make speaker cabinets with bamboo, because it's harder so more difficult to work with and the wears out the CNC bit faster. And the most obvious, Dave has a NFS, so he gets a high resolution scan at will during R&D. I owned a LX before this ELX, so I kind of know what I will be getting ahead of time.


Here's a pic, I have bass traps on th corner, the ELX is mounted on Isoacoustic GAIA.
View attachment 446045

How much was the price then? Thanks.

What I would have liked to have seen is distortion measurements which they would have since they got them measured on the Klippel.